J&K CM chairs meeting of coalition partners ahead of Budget session

Jammu: A day ahead of the first budget session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in seven years, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday chaired a joint meeting of coalition parties here to discuss smooth functioning of the house.

The meeting, attended by Congress legislative party leader G A Mir and CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami, took place shortly after Abdullah presided over a separate legislature party meeting of the National Conference at his official residence here.

The Congress legislature party also met separately at Residency Road party headquarters before Mir joined the meeting convened by Abdullah.

“It is a tradition for both the ruling and the Opposition parties to convene their legislature party meetings before the start of the Assembly session to discuss the issues needed to be raised in the house,” Mir told reporters at the party headquarters after the meeting.

The Congress leader said he is joining the joint legislature party meeting of the ruling coalition.

“Only four-and-a-half months have passed since the formation of the (NC-led) government but many people are questioning the government that it has not done this or that. They should remember that when the government was formed (on October 16), the budget had already been decided and it was also a big hurdle in the way,” he said.

Mir hoped that the budget being presented by the government will address the popular public issues and will also lay the foundation for the implementation of the manifesto during the financial year 2025-26.